Improvement in wheelbarrows



UNrTED STATES PATENT OEEIOE.

.JOSEPH M. JONES, 0E PAEIS, AND JAMES L. JONES, or EExiNeTON, kr.

lIIVIPROVEMIENT IN wHEELBARROws.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 143,76*?,l datedOctober 21, 1873; application filed August 30, 1873.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, J OSEPH MATTHLAS JONES, ofParis, and JAMES LAWRENCEJONES,

`of Lexington, in the State of Kentucky, have invented an ImprovedWheelbarrow, of which the following is a specification:

` The` object of our invention is to so arrange a `common wheelbarrowthat the Wheel will.4

slide back and forth in a slot, as seen in/tle drawing, from a pointforward the wheelbar-` row to a point under its center. By thisVarrangement, when the handles are raised and the barrow started forward,the wheel., being at A a, slips back to b. This point being the center lthe whole weight of the load is thrown upon the wheel instead of thehands, as in the co1nmon barrow. When the wheel is thus under the centerof the load, the weight being on that point, the only labor required isto push forward. `Thisplan admits a larger bed to the barrow, and takesthe Strain off the laborer. He is enabled, in consequence, to do morework thanwith the common barrow, but if the wheel were stationary underthe center of the bed it would be almost impossible to keep it fromtilting while being loaded. This difculty is o bviated by having ashifting-wheel, which slips to a while the barrow is being pulled backto be reloaded. The wheel being at a the barrow will not tilt when beingloaded, as the weight will then rest largely upon the legs instead ofthe wheel. When loaded a slight push forward slips the wheel to b againand the barrow will roll forward. The slot a b, through which the wheelslides, should be from twelve to eighteen inches long, according to thesize of the barrow. The side pieces, in which the slot a bis eut, are tobe f be of one piece and bent.

placed immediately under the bed, fastened to cross-pieces at c el, andmay be made of wood or cast at the pleasure of the manufacturer. Theyshould be placed parallel, and so close together that the wheel, by theaid of a slight enlargement or washer around the pivot, will run plumb.These side pieces may be cast entire or separate, and should haveshoulderbraces cast with the piece to strengthen and hold them firm. Inorder that the slot a b may be held level while wheeling the barrow theleg s is to be lower than the Wheel, and the handle is to'be bent up atthe point x. By this arrangement, when the handles are raised in the actof wheeling the legs clears the ground and the slot a b is kept on alevel. Another object is accomplished by the crooked hanA dles: If thewheel were at b and the barrow loaded it could not be propelled with theordinary straight handle on account of the angle formed by the handle,the axle, and the ground, the tendency being to push the wheel into theearth and the handles over the top of the bar- Y row. The crooked handleobviates this trouble and keeps the load level. The handles are to

